Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney says Canadian officials revoked the passport of John Maguire, an Ottawa-area man who joined ISIS in Syria and who is calling for Muslims to carry out lone-wolf attacks in Canada.

Maguire was already reportedly under investigation by the RCMP. It's not clear whether his passport was seized or when it was revoked, although one MP said it was in the "later part of the winter" of 2013, shortly after he left Canada.

"His passport was revoked after he left the country, so his ability to return is very difficult ... though as you saw in the video, I don't think this guy has any intention of coming back to Canada," said James Bezan, parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence, in an interview with CBC News Network's Power & Politics.

John Maguire of Ottawa travelled to Syria to join ISIS about two years ago. Online he calls himself 'Yahya' and says he is going to have the 'reward of jihad.' (Facebook)

The revocation means Maguire can't travel across borders and if he tried to use his passport to re-enter Canada, it would be seized.

A spokesman for Blaney said the passport was invalidated as soon as officials became aware of Maguire's ties to ISIS.

Blaney said an internal government measure used to assess threats hasn't been heightened as a result of the video.

Arrest by Canadian officials unlikely

Blaney pointed to legislation the government plans to bring to the House to give police more power to deal with cases like Maguire's.

"We are currently working on legislation that would provide more tools to our law enforcement agencies so they are better able to track, build evidence and lay charges," Blaney said.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay called the Maguire case disturbing and said it speaks to the need for vigilance. But Canadian officials likely won't arrest Maguire, he said.

"That is highly unlikely. What we need to do, obviously, to the greatest extent possible, is to monitor his activities," MacKay said on his way into the House of Commons on Monday.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay takes questions from reporters on Monday about the Ottawa man who travelled to Syria to join ISIS. (Chris Rands/CBC)

"The RCMP of course are examining things such as recognizance and peace bonds that are preventative and pre-emptive, and we're looking at legislation, as you know, that would address that through such things as lowering [evidentiary]

thresholds and allowing for police to have greater ability to intervene in cases such as this where there have been very pronounced and very specific threats that have been made."

Maguire's video references Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's October attack in which he killed an honour guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa before storming Parliament Hill, where he was shot and killed.

'Why wasn't he arrested?'

Abu Anwar al-Canadi does not appear to be under duress in the video. CBC News does not know if he made the statement of his own free will.